Can the Gaza War End With Hamas Leaders at Large and Netanyahu in Power?

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL – NOVEMBER 21: (ISRAEL OUT) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looks on during a joint press conference with Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman and Defence Minister Ehud Barak (not pictured), on November 21, 2012 in Jerusalem, Israel. An official ceasfire started at 9pm local time between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement after eight days of conflict resulting in the deaths of over 140 Palestinians, five Israelis and many hundreds injured. (Photo by Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

Posted: March 4th, 2024

By Peter Green

Peter S. Green is a veteran foreign correspondent who has covered wars, revolutions and the evolution of democracy, capitalism and authoritarianism in Eastern Europe and the Balkans for The Times of London, the International Herald Tribune and the New York Times. He’s now based in New York, where he writes on both business and international affairs.

SUBSCRIBER+ EXCLUSIVE REPORTING – Nearly every week, politicians and headline writers tell the world that a ceasefire in Gaza is at hand. A new deal will bring a halt to the fighting, more humanitarian aid and the release of hostages. And within days, the promised deal collapses. As for a longer-term truce, the two sides are facing off across a seemingly unbridgeable gap, agreeing only that they cannot agree to each other’s conditions.

“We will not relent until we achieve total victory over our enemies,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said recently, repeating what has become a mantra since the war began in October. Any pause in the fighting, Netanyahu insists, must be temporary.

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